President-elect Barack Obama has often been compared for his lofty ideals and charisma to the late JFK, who was shot dead in Dallas, Texas in 1963.
But Obama's appeal and his historic election as the first African-American US president have many people worried about potential threats to his life.
"He is inspirational, he is an historic figure, he is the first African-American president; but there is also -- because of that potential for stirring up social unrest -- that also makes him a target," said Scott Stuart, senior terror and security analyst for Statfor, a publisher of geopolitical intelligence.

"In the beginning, there must always be the news," he told some 400 guests, including OU President and former Oklahoma governor and U.S. Senator David Boren, Lt. Gov. Jari Askins, and at least 100 OU journalism students. "It has to start with one of us real news people, one of us boring reporters, one of us journalists who was there, who read the original document, who did the original interview, who got the original leak, who did whatever it took to make it news in the first place."
Lehrer, a Kansas native whose mother was born in Oklahoma and who got his start in journalism at newspapers and TV stations in Dallas, said stick to the basics and avoid "going with stories before they're ready, spicing them up a bit with over-the-line commentary ... and worst of all, make entertaining people one of our purposes."
He added, "You want to be entertained? Go to the circus, don't watch the News Hour."
Lehrer said the fire hose spew of information coming from all the new forms of media has made the traditional journalism role of gatekeeper more important than ever, and predicted that such a role not only is not going away but is "coming back big time.
"There's an increasing amount of news noise, and noise about the news out there in the blogosphere, and the satellite, I-Pod and other spheres. People are busy, they want some professional, unbiased, un-agenda assistance in sorting through it all to help determine what is important before they go off to the editorial page or the commentators, or to be shouted at or entertained about it."

MADRID, Spain – A new kind of silent hero has joined the fight against climate change.

Santa Coloma de Gramenet, a gritty, working-class town outside Barcelona, has placed a sea of solar panels atop mausoleums at its cemetery, transforming a place of perpetual rest into one buzzing with renewable energy.

Flat, open and sun-drenched land is so scarce in Santa Coloma that the graveyard was just about the only viable spot to move ahead with its solar energy program.

The power the 462 panels produces — equivalent to the yearly use by 60 homes — flows into the local energy grid for normal consumption and is one community's odd nod to the fight against global warming.

She said she thought the man she hired to move her home knew what he was doing. Chris "Pancake" Meyers told her, she said, that he had more than 13 years' experience in hauling things and that he had the proper permits and insurance for the move. (She didn't ask to see proof of insurance or a permit, she said. Meyers could not be reached for comment Tuesday by the Herald-Leader.)

About 1 1/2 miles into the move, the tires popped off. Sheriff Garrett said he's heard that somebody warned the group the tires would be loose and they should stop the move. He said Barton insisted on going ahead.

And soon found herself in front of Jim Gaunce's house on U.S. 68. Garrett said over the course of the evening, he did everything he could think of to get the house unstuck so it could be salvaged. But, he said, several of the well-intentioned efforts did significant damage to the house. For example, trying to push with one truck from behind while pulling from the front resulted in the hitch coming off and Barton's blue-walled bedroom being crushed.

Lee Roberts, owner of Roberts Heavy-Duty Towing in Lexington, said his company was called in to help. "We tried to pull the trailer back on the road but couldn't without tearing it to pieces."

And then the sheriff ordered the home tipped off the road by another tractor, which completely destroyed it. She's been given 10 days to clean up the debris from her destroyed home.